Nickelodeon star Kira Kosarin, who plays Phoebe Thunderman in the hit Nick original comedy series The Thundermans, has announced the super news in a post on her official Instagram profile page, @kirakosarin, that she is currently working on a brand-new Nickelodeon special titled Nickelodeon's 2017 Valentine's Special!:

MUMBAI: Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP & Business Head, Kids Cluster, Viacom18, is elated that Nickelodeon India has held on its numero uno position for the third year in a row under two different audience measurement systems, TAM and BARC!

Nina Jaipuria, head of kids cluster, Viacom18

Jaipuria is also satisfied with the growth of Sonic, which has been given booster shots in the form of getting to air Nick's popular franchises like Shiva, Oggy & the Cockroaches and Pakdam Pakdai.

“Nick’s market share is 22% and the next channel is 17%. Hence, there is a large gap between us and our nearest competitor. Sonic’s share has jumped to 7% on average from 3–4% due to Shiva. Together, Nick and Sonic have almost 30% share,” Jaipuria told TelevisionPost.com.

The total ad market for the kids genre is Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) and is growing at 10–11%. Of this, Nick and Sonic take away more than 30% of the ad revenue, avers Jaipuria.

Shiva

“Nick has seen 25–30% growth in its ad rate. Since we are a 100% utilised channel, all growth has to come from effective rates (ER). Sonic’s ad rates have grown by 50%,” she stated.

Jaipuria attributes the success of Nick and Sonic to the creation of a portfolio of characters rather than depending on one character. “We have Shiva, Ninja, Oggy, Pakdam Pakdai, and Motu Patlu. Each of them has worked in a peculiar way for us,” she said.

Kids Choice Awards is back and bigger than ever

After TV, digital and licensing & merchandising (L&M), Viacom18’s kids franchise Nick is all set to engage its core target audience with the second edition of Kids Choice Awards (KCA) 2016. The awards property, which had made its debut in 2014, will be bigger in its second edition.

The property opens up a new revenue stream for Nick, which currently gets 90% of its revenue from ad sales and subscription with L&M making up the remaining 10%.

“This property provides a new touch point to a lot of sponsors who are looking beyond 30-second spot engagement. This is a novel way of breaking the clutter. It’s a win-win situation for all as kids get a customised property, advertisers get an advertising touch point, and broadcasters get a property to engage their core audience,” explains Jaipuria.

For Jaipuria, the time is ripe to bring back KCA at a bigger scale. She feels that kids are under-served as far as live event properties are concerned. Unlike other film awards properties, which are oriented towards adults, KCA has been tailormade for kids.

In Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards India, kids could vote for best actor, actress, film and kids character. There are 13 such categories for which kids have voted. The voting ended on Monday 28th November 2016.

The event will take place on Monday 5th December 2016 at Reliance Studios (Film City), Mumbai. It will have 500 guests, primarily kids, on invite-only basis drawn from NGOs and schools.

In this edition, the property will have a wider reach through airing on multiple Viacom18 channels. The event will premiere on TV during Christmas vacation on Viacom18’s kids cluster Nickelodeon, Sonic, Nick Jr. and Nick HD+. It will then air on other network channels including Colors, Rishtey, Colors Bangla, Colors Marathi, Colors Gujarati besides the over-the-top (OTT) offering Voot.

“We did KCA for the first time in 2014, but that time it was on a smaller scale because the Nick franchise itself was not so robust. Today, the platform is very healthy and robust with multiple characters. We will leverage the equity that we have in the network. Moreover, it is a property that is very family-inclusive; therefore, it makes sense to air it on other network channels,” Jaipuria said.

The property has four main sponsors including Dabur Red Paste as the presenting sponsor, Lifebuoy and Choki Choki as co-powered by sponsors, and Funskool as the associate sponsor.

The property will have all the pomp and show with Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Akshat and Raghav Juyal, Mouni Roy and the Dramebaaz kids performing before the audiences. The event will be anchored by the popular duo Manish Paul and Rithvik Dhanjani.

Nick is mounting an extensive marketing plan for the property spanning TV, print, radio and activations. In addition to a high-frequency promo plan across the Nick cluster, the property will be promoted through Dish TV.

Ground activations have been planned in malls across Mumbai and Delhi besides van promotions across 30 cities in Maharashtra and Gujarat. The property will also be promoted on multiple screens in McDonald’s across 150 outlets in the North.

“We are going to burn 3,000 promos from the time the voting started until the tune-in,” Jaipuria said, summing up the marketing plan.

Launch of a brand-new local IP

Nick is gearing up to launch another local intellectual property in partnership with Toonz Animation. The new animation show will debut either in Q4 or Q1 of the next fiscal year.

“We will be launching our new local IP very soon. It makes sense to create more IPs because then we can leverage that IP across platforms like broadcast, digital, and L&M in our network,” Jaipuria said.

Nick, she said, is looking at different angles of revenue streams. One is of course doing an on-ground event, but a bigger opportunity for the brand is L&M.

“Our L&M is growing at 50% CAGR. Brands have partnered us to launch co-branded products across segments like apparel, accessory, footwear, home and back to school,” she added.

Talking of on-ground events, school contact programmes have emerged as another avenue for Nick to engage with kids and advertisers. Another growing revenue stream is the digital product Voot Kids.

As part of its strategy to leverage a character across multiple touch points, the network will launch pre-school Peppa Pig on Nick Jr. and Voot Kids. The character will also be extended to consumer products.

Go behind-the-scenes on the making of the upcoming Nickelodeon Animation Podcast with animation legend Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo! Nickelodeon recorded this episode LIVE at Entertainment Weekly's POPFest in Downtown LA in October 2016. Find out how Rocko set the stage for so many Nicktoons to come, and what's coming next year in his Modern Life!:

Aca-hello! Ricardo Hurtado (Freddy) is showing off his sick a capella vocals in this awesome version of Justin Bieber’s song "Love Yourself." Watch along with Breanna Yde (Tomika), Jade Pettyjohn (Summer), Lance Lim (Zack), and Aidan Miner (Lawrence)! And don't miss brand new episodes of School of Rock on Saturday nights in January, only on Nickelodeon USA!:

Watch more Henry Danger and The Thundermans on Nickelodeon and TeenNick!Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for all the latest Nickelodeon Germany, Henry Danger and The Thundermans News and Highlights!

All of Pearl's friends are too busy working at the mall to hang out with her, so she decides that it's time to get a job, much to Mr. Krab's delight, in this Sponge-Tastic video clip from SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Mall Girl Pearl"!:

Feel rushed this holiday season? Do you have absolutely NO time to watch your favorite SpongeBob special, "It's a Spongebob Christmas"? NEVER FEAR! Nickelodeon's got you COVERED! Check out the entire holiday special in just a minute and thirty seven seconds – then feel free to get back to your regularly scheduled life!:

Watch more SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons!Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Holidays on Nickelodeon and SpongeBob SquarePants News and Highlights!

Newsday's Kidsday recently visited the Nickelodeon offices in New York, where they got the chance to interview three of the great comedians who will be starring in Albert, the first original animated TV movie Nickelodeon has ever made!

Albert is the story of a tiny Douglas fir tree named Albert who has big dreams of becoming Empire City’s most famous Christmas tree. When the search for this year’s tree is announced, Albert believes he has found his calling and hits the road with his two best friends, Maisie, the persistently positive palm tree, and Gene, the abrasive and blisteringly honest weed, to fulfill his destiny. With a few prickly situations along the way, and Cactus Pete (Riggle), who, in an attempt to destroy Empire City’s Christmas tree, tries to hurt Albert’s ornaments, Albert learns the true meaning of Christmas, and proves that even the tiniest of trees can still do big things! The hour-long TV movie will also feature two original songs, “The Best Thing That Can Happen to Christmas” and “Christmasiest Christmas,” performed by the voice cast.”

Kidsday talked to Judah, Sasheer and Bobby and asked them a few questions about Nick's all-new fun movie:

What is your favorite scene in the movie?

Bobby: The first song when they are all getting ready to go on their adventure is pretty fun. There are fun action scenes at the end, but we don’t want to give away too much.

What do you love about the character you played?

Judah: I played the weed. And weeds are often something that most people don’t want. It is something bad or unwanted. A weed has to fight for himself and can’t rely on other people. Have to have strong personality and a lot of confidence.

Sasheer: I love that my character is a really good friend and is supportive. That is what is needed for a lot of people.

Bobby: I liked Albert because he just wants to have a good time. Albert is all about having fun!

Why do you think kids will like to see Albert?

Sasheer: I think it is a very fun story. It has a really good moral and it is always good to see an underdog win. It is a really cool looking cartoon.

Bobby: It has fun songs.

Judah: And it has a dancing Christmas tree!

What is different from a cartoon movie and a regular movie?

Bobby: When we make animated movies you can be silly and you find yourself jumping around and doing things you wouldn’t normally do.

One of Kidsday's favorite parts of the movie was the attack of the Bunnies scene, when a huge group of Bunnies attack the pals because they want to eat their friend’s leaves.

'Tis the season to revel in a star-studded Christmas as Nickelodeon Asia and City Square Mall, Singapore's first eco-mall, bring you an exciting line-up of characters from Nick Jr.!

From Friday 18th December 2016 to Sunday 1st December 2017, join Dora the Explorer, the PAW Patrol Pups, Blaze and the Monster Machines, the Bubble Guppies, Shimmer and Shine and Team Umizoomi as they transform City Square Mall into a dazzling Christmas wonderland*!

Catch Dora and Boots, along with Chase and Marshall from PAW Patrol, and for the first time in Asia, Bubble Guppies' Gil and Molly 'Live' On Stage daily (except Mondays) from Saturday 3rd to Sunday 18th December 2016!

Get up-close with the stars of the shows during Meet & Greet sessions*, with minimum spending of $50* (50 passes per session)!

A PRESENT FOR SANTA ‘LIVE’ ON STAGE

Join Dora and Boots, along with Chase and Marshall from PAW Patrol, and for the first time in Asia, Gil and Molly from Bubble Guppies on a Christmas adventure s they deliver a present to Santa!

This Holiday Season, join your favorite Nickelodeon characters and be dazzled as they parade through SM Sky Ranch Pampanga on colorful floats! Dancers will light up in glittering and magical Christmas-themed costumes, and a spectacular fireworks display will punctuate the evening at Sky Ranch Pampanga!

Plus, get a chance to have your pictures taken with Dora and Boots from Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob and Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants, Chase and Marshall from PAW Patrol, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and fill your Christmas stockings with amazing toys and apparel only from Nickelodeon!

Soak up the SEA-SON with SpongeBob and Patrick! Have a Spongetastic Holiday Experience as Nickelodeon and SM City Molino bring you to a Christmas themed Bikini Bottom. Meet and Greet your favorite under the sea friends SpongeBob and Patrick with fun and games. See you there!

It’s going to be a PAWsome Holiday at SM City Dasmarinas with PAW Patrol! Get to experience Adventure Bay, meet & greet Chase and Marshall, ride and take a photo on your favorite Rescue Pup's vehicle, and take part in exciting games and activities!

Nickelodeon India has announced the exciting news that Student of The Year stars Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan are set to perform at Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards 2016 India!

Hosted by Manish Paul, the Bollywood star and slime-studded Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards 2016 India will take place on Monday 5th December 2016, and will honour kids favourites from the worlds of film, music, television and gaming.

"These awards feel more special because the winner is clearly a favourite of the kids and also boosts our morale to do better and keep entertaining our audiences," Varun said in a statement on being a part of Kids Choice Awards India for the first time.

Manish, who has hosted numerous shows, including the celebrity dance-based show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, is super excited for the awards night. "It's a challenge to host live acts and even more challenging when it's for kids because we need to be extra cautious of the gags and jokes we develop. I share a great bond with kids and it's going to be a memorable experience," he said.

NickHeads in India have been casting their votes across 13 categories for who they want to win a coveted orange blimp by logging onto Nick India's official Kid's Choice Awards 2016 India website at nickindia.com/kcaindia. Each category reflects the entertainment that audiences love to watch and play. Nickelodeon India will also award a special Sports Icon Of the Year award to a Indian sporting hero.

Filmmaker Isaac Elliot-Fisher, who was a cinematographer on the popular Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles documentary, and its upcoming sequel, has revealed the unfortunate news during a interview on the latest episode, #64, of the Turtle Flakes podcast that Nickelodeon hit CG-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series may end after the shows fifth season, set to debut in 2017. Isaac announces the news at approximately the 57:38 mark in the podcast, which you can listen to below:

Here's another Turtley Awesome animatic scene from when Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series was still in development! Now remember, always listen to Sensei. Or listen to the Executive Producer, Ciro Nieli's podcast episode to find out more about TMNT!

Marinette has the biggest crush on her classmate Adrien, but she's always tongue-tied when she tries to speak to him! For instance, that one time when the "ladybugs" in this Ladybug's tummy led to the most epically catastrophic disaster of a voicemail message. Ever. You have to hear it to believe it!:

JoJo Siwa brought it bigger, better, faster, and stronger for the 2016 Nickelodeon HALO Awards! Watch as her "Boomerang" performance electrifies the crowd with neon rainbows, jaw-dropping dance moves, and a few unicorns!:

Gear up with Rusty, Blaze, the PAW Patrol Pups, and Shimmer and Shine as they break out their best robot dance moves in this compilation music video from kids' favorite Nick Jr. full episodes. Find more Nick Jr. music videos and full episodes at NickJr.com and in the free Nick Jr. App!:

Henry (Jace Norman) and Captain Man (Cooper Barnes) volunteer at the annual Christmas breakfast, and Captain Man has an awkward moment with a reporter in this super hilarious video clip from the brand-new Henry Danger Christmas special "Christmas Danger"!:

Catch the brand-new Henry Danger Holiday special this Christmas on Nickelodeon and TeenNick!

The Nick stars now have to struggle through various holiday-themed obstacles and challenges if they want to escape and find their way ho-ho-home. So come for the carolling, stay for the snowflakes and watch all your favorite Nick stars come out in Nickelodeon's Ho Ho Holiday Special! Look out for special guest cameos from a box of ornaments, a Nutcracker, a Puppy, a whole lot of Eggnog, a giant ice cream scoop, a snow Dog, a room full of nuts, a Grandma doing the Worm, a guy named Moe, a French snowman, a selfie stick, and President Barack Obama!

The Hungarian children's television news blog Gyerek-Világ is reporting the exciting Nickelodeon International news that Nickelodeon Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) will be premieringAlbert, the first original animated TV movie Nickelodeon has ever made, on Sunday 18th December 2016 at 16:05!

Albert is the story of a tiny Douglas fir tree named Albert who has big dreams of becoming Empire City’s most famous Christmas tree. When the search for this year’s tree is announced, Albert believes he has found his calling and hits the road with his two best friends, Maisie, the persistently positive palm tree, and Gene the abrasive and blisteringly honest weed, to fulfill his destiny. With a few prickly situations along the way, and Cactus Pete out to stop him, Albert learns the true meaning of Christmas. The hour-long CG-animated TV movie will also feature two original songs, “The Best Thing That Can Happen to Christmas” and “Christmasiest Christmas,” performed by the voice cast.

Albert is directed by Oscar®-nominated Max Lang (The Gruffalo), executive produced by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi (The Adventures of Pete & Pete), and written by Will and Aaron Eisenberg (The Massively Mixed-Up Middle School Mystery) and Joe Stillman (Shrek). The Eisenbergs are also co-executive producers, and Viscardi serves as Nickelodeon’s SVP, Content Development, Nickelodeon Franchise Properties.Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon Central and Eastern Europe and Albert News and Highlights!

Will and Aaron Eisenberg, two brothers who grew up in Westfield, New Jersey, have written Albert: The Little Tree with Big Dreams, Nickelodeon's first-ever animated Christmas movie for TV! They've also written an accompanying book of the same title, published by Random House.

The Eisenberg brothers both graduated from Westfield High School, Aaron in 2007 and Will in 2008. After attending different colleges, they moved to Los Angeles and have been writing together for about six years.

“We feel really lucky to have each other as collaborators,” Will Eisenberg told TAPinto Westfield. “Our skill sets complement each other. Plus, with our comfort level, we don't really need to filter our opinions or avoid creative conflict for the sake of politeness. We know that, at the end of the day, we're still going to be having Thanksgiving dinner together.”

Albert: The Little Tree with Big Dreams tells the story of Albert, a two-foot Douglas fir tree, who is obsessed with Christmas but has never been picked to be a family Christmas tree. When he hears that the search is on for the famous New York City Christmas tree, he sets out to accomplish the ultimate dream with the help of his two friends.

“One thing that we've always tried to be very conscious of when writing was not to think of our stories as just for kids,” Will Eisenberg said. “When we watched TV and films growing up, we never liked feeling as if we were being talked down to. In that spirit, we wrote with what we hope is a tone that all ages can enjoy-one that mixes irreverence and edginess with a big-hearted message.”

The Eisenberg brothers wrote Albert a few years ago and originally pitched it as a feature film. After finishing their first TV movie at Nickelodeon, Massively Mixed Up Middle School Mystery, they mentioned it to their producers and the rest fell into place.

“The network ordered Albert as a TV feature and a book, simultaneously,” Will Eisenberg said. “We couldn't say no. Nickelodeon was a perfect fit and TV, as it turns out, a perfect outlet for a holiday movie."

The movie is set to air on Nickelodeon USA on Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. EST, and worldwide soon after. Nickelodeon's brand-new animated TV movie features a star-studded cast, including Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live) in the title role; Sasheer Zamata (Saturday Night Live) as Maisie, the persistently positive palm tree; Judah Friedlander (30 Rock) as Gene, the abrasive and blisteringly honest weed; Rob Riggle (21 Jump Street) as Cactus Pete; Cheri Oteri (Saturday Night Live) as a TV news correspondent; Brenna Yde (School of Rock) as Molly, Earth Mama’s granddaughter; John DiMaggio (Adventure Time) as Donny, Molly’s father; and Mary Pat Gleason (Mom) as Earth Mama, the owner and caretaker of the nursery. The hour-long TV movie will also feature two original songs, “The Best Thing That Can Happen to Christmas” and “Christmasiest Christmas,” performed by the voice cast.”

“We think it will air repeatedly throughout the holiday season,” Will Eisenberg said, “so check your local listings.”Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon and Albert News and Highlights!

During an exclusive interview with HollywoodLife.com on the Orange Carpet at the 2016 Nickelodeon HALO Awards, Nickelodeon star Nick Cannon announced that a All That reunion will be happening!

“You will see a reunion,” the America’s Got Talent host told HollywoodLife.com at the HALO Awards. “You’ll see it. It is coming!”

However, fans who are hoping that Nick will be reprising his hilarious "inconvenience store" sketch, in which he played a sassy woman named Latanya, may be a bit disappointed. “You will not see me dressed up as a woman though!” Nick joked. Well, NickALive! are just happy to hear that Nick will be joining what’s sure to be an EPIC reunion!

Nick starred on the hit Nickelodeon sketch-comedy show from 1998 to 2001. Some of his most hilarious skits included, of course, the inconvenience store woman, in which he played Latanya alongside fellow cast member Kenan Thompson. He also played a member of the Spice Boys, a spoof on the Spice Girls, in which he was “Sweaty Spice,” and how can anyone forget his role as the funny receptionist at the fictional Dudco Enterprises?! Classic!

These days, Nick is busy with his adorable 5-year-old twins with ex-wife Mariah Carey, spending this Thanksgiving weekend together in Hawaii! He’s come a long way from his All That days, however, he still has close ties to Nickelodeon. Following his stint on All That, Nick hosted his own series, The Nick Cannon Show, and later went on to become the Chairman of TeenNick, and the co-creator of Nickelodeon's hit musical comedy series Make It Pop. We can still count on him to always make fans laugh! NickALive! are counting down the days until the Nickelodeon reunion!

Nickelodeon has held several All That reunions over the last couple of years with the original cast members of All That, most recently for The Splat's The Double Dare Reunion Special, which aired this Thanksgiving.

The Annie Awards has announced the fantastic news on the organizations official website, annieawards.org, that Nickelodeon's hit animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Pig Goat Banana Cricket, and Nickelodeon's popular game app Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Legends, have been nominated for three awards 44th Annual Annie Awards, an prestige annual awards show which honors the best in animation!

Additionally, the popular animated preschool series Puffin Rock, which airs on Nick Jr. UK & Ireland and Nick Jr. Australia & New Zealand, and the popular CG-animated series All Hail King Julien, which airs on Nickelodeon Poland (Polska), locally titled Niech żyje Król Julian, have also been nominated for three awards in the 44th Annie Awards!

Honoring excellence in the field of animation, the 44th Annual Annie Awards will be presented in 35 categories including animated feature, animated feature-independent, broadcast production(s), broadcast commercial, short subject, and student film, as well as the achievement and honorary awards. The 2016 Annie Awards ceremony will be held on Saturday 4th February 2017 at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Below is a list of the nominations for the 44th Annie Awards, featuring only the awards Nickelodeon have been nominated for, via annieawards.org. Congratulations and good luck to Nickelodeon and everyone nominated in the 44th Annie Awards!: